So,

I was away writing (of course) but didn’t have a lot happen, full disclosure…

My novel funding didn’t go as far as I would have liked. It was a big learning experience however, and I’ll still finish it… I’m still trying to finish my novel for those who funded though. Of course, profits from others is good too!

I will try to crowdsource again; I’ll have to get my cover art done after all. I won’t ask the people who already funded me, and I’ll put together a separate post on this blog about what crowdsourcing is and ism’t.

In the past year I also attempted the script for an 8-page steampunk comic book story. Steampunk is a science fiction genre in which technology doesn’t exist as we know it. Clockwork mechanisms and steam power exists instead.

I’ve read comic books for over 3 decades, and I’ve written scripts for comics before, so I wanted to challenge myself again.

Fox Feature Syndicate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This didn’t distract me from my novel. 8 pages is a blip at most. There’s another reason: I blew it. I have maybe 4 pages of it done, but thanks to chronic fatigue I didn’t finish on time.

I will finish it though. The reason for this is simple: always finish what you start.

What also slowed me down was that I was learning how to write it with Scrivener. I use it to write everything (my novel to date is in it) but it uses a different method to write. The learning curve slowed me down.

There was a big change for me: with a paid novel to finish, I didn’t feel it would be fair for me to start another one midway, so for the first year since 2003 I didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo. I may in 2015 after I finish my current novel.

(I’m likely dating myself with a reference to the first Raiders of the Lost Ark…)

I’m currently reading an advice book about writing a series (appropriate. I’m hoping that my Indiegogo project will be the start of one). The portion that I’m currently reading talks about the differences between story- and series arcs.

A story arcs are easy to follow. They are the way that every piece of fiction are structured: a beginning, a middle and an end.

Such an arc can flow through several books if the story calls for them. That’s how I intend to structure my first story: the first book will be the beginning, the second the middle, the third the end.

(This doesn’t mean that each book won’t have it’s own such arc. There will just be one overall as well.)

The words “Bad Wolf” as aerosol graffiti on the TARDIS in “Aliens of London”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Next is the concept of the series arc. This is a similar concept, but goes through all of the books in a series. It is sometimes just hinted at by subplots until the ultimate payoff in the final book.

This is a concept often used in television series, so it’s a bit easier to grasp using that comparison. Actually, this is used in some of the best series, like Babylon 5.

My overall series is intended to have such a structure, with each individual story inside of it.

In order to sustain it for a while I’m building up a cast of supporting characters, so that I’ll have more to draw on when I run low on ideas for the main ones. These will likely be one-shots, less ‘heavy’ than the main stories, connected by the fact of them working at the same place.